Lost Soul
by stevebond1990
Summary: A security officer escapes Titan Station to find himself lost in a new universe only to find himself swept up by events. No Markers or Necromorphs but the Reaper's prove to be as much of a nightmare.
1. Chapter 1

Lost Soul

SGT Anthony Mercer groaned as he came to in the cockpit of the USM Cossack, he'd stolen the corvette with the help of a fellow survivor, Ellie Langford, in exchange for an IFF for an armed gunship.  
The two had made it to the Slipways before the hoard caught up; luckily the automated defences had held them off long enough to get away. The gunship had left after the corvette had cleared the slipway, the corvette had made ready to shock out to Exodus Station, the fleet base for the Second Fleet, but the Titan Station director had other ideas.

Hans Tiedemann had fired a low yield nuke, the launcher being the last surviving external defence thanks to the Cossack's prow guns, the missile had impacted as the ship shocked away disrupting the jump. The Corvette had come out at Exodus station's co-ordinates but the station, and the fleet it served, was not there.

Instead there was a small farming colony with a small spaceport, and several small ships that appeared to be an invasion force. A few shots had been fired as the larger warship passed but nothing had pierced the Gravity shields. Unfortunately Mercer hadn't had time to adjust the ship's course and had crashed into the colony, just outside the spaceport. Mercer had passed out before impact due to the overload of information sent through his RIG, which wasn't designed or gauged to run a ship with.

He slowly reached up and put a hand to the cerebral implant on his RIG, he jerked it back instantly; even through the vacuum rated suit he could feel it was hot. He blinked twice to clear his vision, noting his shattered faceplate, 'I need to replace that' he thought numbly as he struggled to get up.

He stumbled as loose debris shifted under his weight, holding his rifle and shattered helmet he made his way to the corridor out of the main bridge and headed for the nearest quartermaster kiosk (like the store on the USM Valor in DS 1), he put on his damaged helmet, making a mental note to never try head butting mutated corpses again, and entered the kiosk after requesting a replacement helmet and presenting the required credits. Instead of the single piece faceplate he was originally issued a collapsible segmented helmet that provided better physical protection but reduced visibility slightly.

As he inspected the new helmet, a warning lit up on his RIG; one of the exterior hatches was being hacked, the VI was keeping them out but it was a matter of time before they tried just cutting or blasting the door open.  
He checked his leg holster for his plasma pistol to find it there before checking his equipment buffer; this was a type of digital storage system that turned items or weapons into digital code and stored them electronically and 'downloaded' the equipment to materialise it in the RIG users hands when necessary.  
He had his pulse rifle, seeker sniper rifle, a C-99 super collider contact beam and a 211-v Plasma cutter and a large ammunition supply for all five weapons.

He made his way to the gangway the hatch led into, bringing up an image of the invaders on an external camera as he did; there were several beings that looked synthetic in nature, one turned to the camera and showed a large camera lens lit by a flashlight in place of a face, they had two toed feet, backward curved shin and two fingered hands.  
The was also another being standing much further back just watching, it looked like it's skin was made of armoured plates, with long thin spines on its head like an avian crest, two fingered hands as well but these seemed type by claws and mandibles that flanked the jaw.

The former were clustered around the airlock and one seemed to be trying to hack the door mechanism but wasn't having much success.

Mercer reached the gangway and deployed a pair of gravity shield barricades from the walls halfway along the gangway; he drew his pulse rifle and crouched behind one of the barricades to wait. He watched the security feeds as he waited, noting the synthetics switched from hacking to preparing explosives when the second being became inpatient. He closed the security feeds and disconnected his RIG from the ships systems before readying himself for the blast.

He ducked down as the blast fragmented the door and waited until he heard footsteps on the deck plating before spinning around.

There were four grey man-sized platforms holding a strange curved, rifle he presumed, entering the hull. He stood up and aimed his pulse rifle.

The geth appeared to be surprised by the appearance of a defender and seemed to make a double take at the holographic targeting reticule projected by the rifle, and were unprepared for the stream of hypersonic ammunition fired at them, completely over loading their kinetic barriers and virtually liquefying any of the soft synthetic tissue that was exposed.

The first two were standing in line with each other and were cut down together as the pulse rounds punched through the first and into the second.

The third stood to one side and was able to raise its weapon and fire three shots at the defender before it was cut down.

The fourth fired from the hip as it tried to retreat but was knocked forward by reinforcements entering the hull and destroyed by a dozen pulse rounds tearing into the CPU in its chest.

There were a dozen reinforcements of the same type of platform and a white variation that put up hexagonal energy shields to protect them as they returned fire.

Mercer swore, hoping the shields weren't too effective he loaded a fresh clip and fired again as the synthetics huddled behind the barriers, turning their heads to each other and making an electronic stuttering sound.

A three round burst was enough to overload and drop either shield.

The two white synthetics that had placed the shields turned to Mercer as he fired, then looked down at the now failed shields, they then looked back to each other and then Mercer as if to say, _'Oh Crap!'_

Mercer grinned behind his visor as the synthetics went to fall back but were stopped by a ten foot grey synthetic with yellow markings. He fired a grenade from his rifle's launcher and destroyed seven, dismembered two and sent two more into a bulkhead. The larger synthetic stooped to enter the hall and advanced but was met and cut down by a shot from Mercer's seeker rifle through its flashlight, followed by its two surviving compatriots.

Mercer waited for more to come but none did, he peeked over his cover as he reloaded and found the hall empty except for synthetic dead.

Suspicious and unwilling to reconnect his RIG as it was still hot, he slowly got up from behind his barrier and walked forward to the hatch. He took cover against the frame and leaned out.

There was a second avian being with darker plates and white face paint, talking to the first who put his hand reassuringly one the second's shoulder before stepping behind him. The second said something Mercer couldn't understand and looked between the corvette and what looked like a mag-lev line 200 yards in front of the corvette.

The first said something and drew a large pistol, aiming at the second's head.

Mercer made a decision that would forever change his life; he raised his rifle, aimed and fired at the first alien.

Nihlus was looking between the crashed alien ship and the train line to the spaceport when two shots rang out, followed by a bullet tearing into his shoulder. He twisted as he fell, he saw his mentor Saren's pistol shattered on the ground, Saren clutching his remaining organic hand which was now missing an index finger and he saw the look of anger and hatred twisting Saren's face just before a third shot rang out and sent Saren diving for cover.

Two more shots were fired as Saren ran for the train platform; somehow dodging the high powered rounds that Nihlus believed would punch straight through a fully armoured Krogan, before jumping onto one of the two cargo mag-lev trains.

Nihlus looked back as heavy boots impacted the metal close to him, there was a figure in a green and white suit with blue armour plating and wearing a strange helmet that had two glowing slits on its face, the figure raised a large rifle and fired twice more but Saren's train departed with one shot going wide and the other impacting a crate.

Nihlus heard the figure swear loudly in English it reloaded its rifle and turned to head back to the ship but noticed him on the ground.

"Are you alright? How bad is it?" the figure, clearly human, asked.  
"It's not too serious, some medi-gel should take care of it," Nihlus replied knowing he'd been hit worse before.  
The figure shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't understand you,"  
Nihlus frowned; everyone had a basic translator on their omni-tools, so unless this man didn't have one he should understand. He activated his omni-tool, which made the man jump away and raise his rifle, and set the translator to broadcast his voice in English.  
"I said the wound isn't too serious and a dose of medi-gel should be sufficient until I can return to the Normandy," Nihlus repeated, relaxing slightly as the figure lowered his rifle.  
"The bio-gel I have is meant for humans, I don't know of its safe to use on you," the figure replied as a small canister seemed to materialise from nowhere into his left hand, which he'd taken off his rifle.  
Nihlus frowned again, this human had clearly never met an alien before which was hard to imagine given the Alliance's recent history but his confusion, lack of omni-tool, apparent unfamiliarity with the more prominent council species and lack of translator pointed to the possibility of this human having grown up outside council or even known human space.  
"If it's designed for humans it will do little for me our species have very different biology's, your caution is prudent. However I have a pack of a universal medi-gel that can used for several species on me, I just can't apply it," Nihlus said, pulling out the small pack and holding it out to the human. He stood up and presented the wound to the human as the human took the pack and inspected it, the canister he held disappearing like it appeared. He flinched as the human clumsily applied the gel but it worked adequately.  
"Thank you, Nihlus Kyrik council Spectre," he said, introducing himself as he turned to face the human.  
"SGT Anthony Mercer, Titan Station Security and acting Captain of the USM Cossack," the human replied, his helmet folding away into an armoured collar to show a human male with dark red hair, so dark to be almost dark brown, a handsome face and sapphire blue eyes.

Nihlus was about to speak when a shout caught his attention and made Mercer raise and aim his rifle.

"Nihlus"

There stood the human soldier he'd been sent to evaluate Commander John Shephard, his lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and a third female soldier instead of Jenkins.

The three of them were aiming at SGT Mercer and Mercer was aiming squarely between Shephard's eyes.

One false move…


	2. Chapter 2

Lost Soul

Chapter 2

One False Move…

"Commander Shepard, Stand Down," Nihlus barked. "Sergeant Mercer is a friendly; I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him." The Turian relaxed slightly as Shepard lowered his rifle and signalled the other two to as well, Mercer lowered his own weapon too.

"Who are you? You're not a colonist," the female soldier demanded, clearly from the local garrison.

"A survivor," Mercer replied dryly. "I came from the corvette, those synthetics tried to board after the crash landing and I fought back. I then went to the hatch and found the Spectre with another of his kind who put a gun to his head from behind," he continued, pointing to the shattered pistol which made the woman and Alenko stare incredulously at him.  
"I picked my shot and fired, and it seems I picked my side in this war too," he finished, looking at Nihlus who nodded.

"Another Turian?" Alenko asked, confused why another turian would be on the planet.

"My former mentor, Saren, was here a few minutes ago, I lowered my guard and he put that pistol to my head, Mercer shot it out of his hand and kept firing as Saren ran," Nilus explained, Mercer nodding in agreement before tapping his shoulder and pointing behind Nihlus, his helmet reforming as he went to cover.

Nihlus turned around as Shepard and his team looked up, there were five geth troopers approaching from the train platform.

BANG!

The rear most geth was thrown off its feet and over the platform railing by the force of impact from the shot from Mercer's rifle.

Nihlus and the Alliance soldiers stared in awe at the power of the weapon as they crouched behind cover before coming to their senses and firing on the geth, Nihlus using a borrowed pistol as he couldn't properly aim his rifle.

Between them they quickly destroyed the remaining geth. "We should hurry, Saren was heading for the spaceport and the beacon," Nihlus told the Alliance soldiers.  
"What about him?" the woman asked rudely, jerking her head at Mercer.  
"Take a look inside that hatch, THAT'S what my pulse rifle does to those synthetics, if you don't want that kind of firepower at your back…" Mercer started to argue, Kaidan stuck his head inside the hatch and came out looking rather green.  
"Enough Williams, he comes with us," Shepard said, his tone making the woman back down.  
"Someone should guard the _Cossack_, the ship is loaded with advanced tech," Mercer mentioned as he dematerialised his seeker rifle and replaced it with his pulse rifle, surprising everyone again.  
"I'll stay behind and call in a team from the _Normandy_ to guard it," Nihlus, staring at the triple barrelled rifle in Mercer's hands.

"Alright, we'll meet up later, let's go, you too Mercer," Shepard said, waving the team towards the train platform. Williams gave Mercer a sour look but complied, Alenko gave him the comm frequency so they could still talk with him.

They made their way to the platform, finding several geth taking cover on the second cargo train. The team took cover, Mercer was confused when Kaidan glowed blue and stood up and shocked when the man swung his arm and an orb of the glowing energy left his hand and knocked a geth flying.

Mercer turned his attention to the next synthetic, another of the ten foot grey platforms, aimed his rifle and fired at its legs. The synthetic stumbled then fell as its knees were first damaged then liquefied before several hypersonic rounds punched through the top of its head and destroyed the fibre optics used as a central nervous system. The three Alliance soldiers simply stared at him as he switched fire to two shock troopers who were now hiding, their weapons hadn't made a significant effect on the destroyer's barriers so Shepard had ordered Kaidan to prepare an Overload and himself prepped a grenade only to see their target taken out in the three seconds they'd looked away, leaving Shepard with a hot grenade and Kaidan with an over-clocked Overload which they unleashed on the same unfortunate trooper which stood damaged and stunned until Mercer fired a grenade from his rifle's launcher and sent it over the railing.

"Holy Shit!" Williams exclaimed, not quite able to believe the firepower in this man's hands.

"That was impressive," Kaidan complimented.

"Thanks, but we'd better get moving if we want to catch that Saren guy," Mercer replied, pointing to the holographic controls.  
"Good point, well done Mercer the geth didn't know what hit them" Shepard said, moving to the controls, Mercer walked beside Kaidan and Williams and ejected the spent cartridge and inserted a new one.  
"Your rifle's magazine fed?" Kaidan asked as they leaned against a set of crates the last geth had used for cover at the front of the train.  
"Yeah, the mechanism converts ammo into a grenade for the launcher if there's enough too, why? Do yours work differently?" Mercer replied, looking at his temporary squad mate in surprise.  
"Yeah, a shaver cuts a sliver off an internal block and a magnetic rail accelerates it through a mass effect field to supersonic velocity, the weapon generates heat that needs to dissipate," Kaidan explained, Williams and Shepard were listening in curiosity.  
"We never used this _mass effect, _as far as I know it was never discovered. We use a triple barrel to skirt the heat issue and accelerate a low density plasma enveloped projectile to Hypersonic velocity, this causes significant wound trauma due to the transfer of nearly all the kinetic energy and the plasma burst but also means it is safe for ship or station board action as it won't punch through a pressure hull," Mercer explained before his face changed. "Won't do shit against armour though," he grumbled.

Kaidan was about to mention that the geth _were_ armoured when Williams spoke up. "The spaceport platform is right over there, if the science team moved the beacon – it's going to be there," she said, pointing to a large platform to one side of the rail line up ahead.

"Which means we should expect heavy resistance if they haven't moved it onto a shuttle or that they're going to torch the area," Mercer deduced grimly, Williams looked at him shocked before realising she'd probably do the same thing.

"Radiological alarm," Mercer called out as the train reached the platform and his RIG alarm went off.

"Guess you were right about them blowing the place up," Kaidan shouted as he tried to disarm the first bomb while the geth took pot shots at him.

"I said torch not destroy," Mercer retorted as he fired a burst at a synthetic that popped out of cover at the far end of the platform. "Fire destroys evidence better than an explosion."

Kaidan looked at him expecting an explanation but a volley from the geth drew his attention back to the battle as he, Shepard and Williams ran for the upper level as Mercer provided suppressing fire.

"Another big one," Williams called out as Mercer reached the top level, he saw a similar ten foot synthetic as before but red with black markings.

"Keep it busy," Mercer shouted as he swapped his rifle for his contact beam.

"What?" Williams shouted, that thing was laying into them with a light machine gun or heavy rifle.

"I need to charge up a shot before I can fire, I need to have a clear shot for five seconds," he replied as he locked a power cell in place.

Williams was about to shout back but a large piece of the crate she was behind broke off in front of her face. Shepard threw another grenade and Kaidan launched an Overload followed by a Warp, successfully stopping its attack long enough for Mercer to step out of cover, aim, charge his shot and fire.  
The synthetic as well as Shepard, Williams and Alenko watched as the strange weapon glowed before a ball of energy seemed to condense into the muzzle and a bright particle beam lanced straight through the large synthetic and then the head of a geth trooper that looked out from cover behind its larger brethren.

Shepard's team was once again awestruck by the technology and _firepower_ Mercer possessed as he fired four more times on the geth at the far end of the platform, those that weren't destroyed were finished by rifle fire as they were forced out of cover.

Kaidan continued defusing any bombs they came across as they ad-hoc team moved forward, Shepard, Williams and Mercer working together to destroy the enemy with Mercer picking off the snipers and rocket launchers. Soon all the bombs were defused and Nihlus radioed that the _Normandy_ had dropped off the second marine team.

"Alright, this should be the last area before the beacon, we secure the beacon and prep for extraction," Shepard said, before leading the way. Shepard and Kaidan destroyed one of the two geth on the platform and Mercer shot the other with his seeker rifle, blasting a fist sized hole through the chest carapace and main CPU.

The team made it onto the platform and started towards the beacon but were interrupted by a metallic grating sound. The team spun around to see large metal spikes about twenty meters tall retracting, a heavily augmented human corpse mounted on the tip.

"What are these things?" Mercer shouted, raising his rifle. The panic clear in his voice confused the others as they started firing.  
"I don't know but I call them husks," Shepard replied as the husk he was aiming at barely registered the gunfire.  
"Aim for the limbs, dismember them," Mercer suddenly shouted, tearing the two heading for him apart doing so.  
The others were confused but tried it to find the husks fell much easier that way.

"How did you know?" Williams asked, amazed Mercer had known such a sound strategy.  
"During my last deployment, a virus broke loose it was a necrotic recombinator. It turned the bodies in the morgue into monsters that could only be killed by hacking them apart, body shots and regular ammunition didn't work the best means of defence was repurposed mining tools but most didn't have access to those.  
It's why I have the contact beam; it's for softening up large asteroids made of titanium ore.  
There were different types depending on the strain of the virus and the body infected; It didn't matter who was killed men, women, even children – all were turned against us," he explained numbly, Williams gasped and Shepard and Alenko swore at the scene described.  
"We evacuated the station but not everyone made it, those left behind were abandoned. I was one of them; I stole the _Cossack_ to flee to the Second Fleet's base at Exodus station but ended up here," he continued, by this point he was close to breaking down, Shepard put his hand on the man's shoulder and looked into the slit on Mercer's visor that was at eye level when the scarred man looked up, "You did the best you could, that's all anyone could ask of you," Shepard said gently.  
Mercer nodded but couldn't help thinking his best wasn't enough for many, he pulled himself together as best he could and joined Kaidan and Williams by the beacon.

"Impressive isn't it," Kaidan said to the other two.  
"What is it exactly?" Mercer asked, knowing only that this artefact was called a beacon.  
"It's a Prothean data storage device, functioning examples are really rare to find," Kaidan explained.  
"So is it an oversized hard drive or a communications device?" Mercer asked for clarification as he lowered his visor.  
"Both I think," Kaidan replied, returning to his CO.  
"It wasn't doing anything like that when the dug it up," Williams said, pointing to the energy field swirling around the device.  
"Someone must have activated it, a security field perhaps," Mercer suggested, turning around and walking over to Shepard to ask what would happen to him now.

Ashley peered at the beacon and walked closer carefully. The beacon was still for several steps then suddenly the energy field flared and Ashley was pulled towards it despite her best efforts to resist.

"Williams," Shepard shouted and ran between Mercer and Alenko to the imperilled Gunnery Chief, they swiftly followed him.

Shepard ran forward and grasped Williams around the waist, pulled her behind him with enough force to throw her several yards, Alenko stopped at her side while Mercer continued for several steps before stopping himself, both watching as Shepard was pulled in instead.  
Williams shook her head before noticing Shepard being pulled in.  
"Shepard!" she shouted trying to get up but restrained by both Alenko and Mercer.  
"Don't touch him, it could be dangerous," Kaidan cautioned.  
"The fields got him now," Mercer said, himself panicked.  
The three watched helplessly as Shepard twitched and writhed in the air.

Shepard continued to writhe for several seconds before the energy field around the beacon thickened then flared and the beacon exploded, throwing Shephard onto the deck plating several yards away.

Mercer crouched at the man's side with Williams and checked his pulse as Kaidan gave the _Normandy_ an update and called for extraction.

Hours later, Mercer walked into the galley area of the crew deck of the _Systems alliance Space Vehicle Normandy_ and took a seat at the table, the ships CO Captain David Anderson had offered him a place on the ship, with Admiral Hackett's approval, as the_ Cossack_ was being recovered by the Fifth Fleet and his previous post no longer existed, Mercer had said he appreciated the offer but wasn't sure what good it would do beyond backing up the report. Anderson had told him that he had distinguished himself under fire against a foe no one but the ground team on the _Normandy_ had faced, that made him a desirable asset to have on the ground team. He was also one of two credible witnesses to the presence of the second turian on Eden Prime and they needed him at the coming meeting with the council.

He was tucking into an MRE he got from the mess sergeant when Kaidan came over and sat down opposite him.

"Worried about Shepard?" Mercer asked between bites.  
Kaidan gave him a small humourless smile, "that obvious, huh," he said.  
"I've seen Shepard's type before, he'll pull through," Anthony reassured the Lieutenant. "I don't think we were introduced, Sergeant Anthony Mercer Titan Station Security," he said introducing himself.  
"Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, _Normandy_ Marines," Kaidan replied holding out his hand for Anthony to take, which he did. "The girl is Gunnery Sergeant Ashley Williams, she was with the local garrison."  
"A native? How'd she end up with a ship crew?" Mercer asked, regretting it as he saw Kaidan grimace.  
"We lost the other guy on our team, Jenkins, and we needed a guide to the beacon. Until the _Cossack_ crashed of course," he replied slowly.  
"I'm sorry, loosing squad mates is never easy," Anthony replied earning a grateful smile from Kaidan.  
the pair fell into easy conversation, trading information about each other and their previous careers until the both finished their meals.  
"Let's check on Shepard, it'll be our last chance before we reach this Citadel I've heard about," Anthony said. Kaidan agreed as they disposed of the rubbish, and went to the medical bay after they washed up.

They entered the medical bay to find Ashley in the same seat by the Commander that she'd been in since they came aboard. Kaidan was about to ask the doctor about Shepard when the man started thrashing on the bed, his face contorted slightly. Ashley jumped back while Anthony went forward and held Shepard's shoulders down, Kaidan did the same with his legs.

After several minutes, Shepard seemed to calm down and settled back into an uneasy sleep. "What happened?" Ashley asked as Anthony and Kaidan let go of Shepard.  
"Must have been one hell of a nightmare," Anthony muttered as the doctor, Chakwas he remembered, took another scan.  
"You seem to be right, sergeant," she commented before going to add this development to her report.

The three stayed by Shepard for several minutes until Ashley noticed he started moving.  
"Doctor Chakwas, I think he'd waking up," she called out, the doctor coming over as the man sat up.  
"You had us worried there, Shepard. How do you feel," Chakwas said as she came over and prepared the scanner on her omni-tool.  
"Like a Mako was dropped on my head," Shephard replied, before looking to his squad members, "What happened?"  
"It's my fault," Ashley said stepping forward from behind Chakwas, "I must have triggered it somehow."  
"The field around the beacon was already fluctuating, someone used it and Williams was caught because it was left on," Anthony suggested, earning a grateful smile from Ashley, her first friendly gesture to the gendarme trooper.  
"Actually we don't even know if that's what set it off," Chakwas continued.  
"It exploded, a system overload maybe," Kaidan supplied.  
"Knocked you cold on your arse," Anthony finished, his British accent thickening enough to be noticed.  
"How long was I out?" Shepard asked holding his still lightly throbbing head.  
"About 15 hours," Chakwas answered moving into his field of view.  
"While you're out I noticed unusual beta brain wave activity and you started tossing about in your sleep," Chakwas continued.  
"Had one hell of a nightmare," Anthony commented.  
"I saw…" Shepard began before shaking his head. "I don't know what I saw. Synthetics, geth maybe, slaughtering people, whole planets burning beneath them, it isn't really clear," Shepard said in a hollow voice.  
"Just when I thought it couldn't get any Goddamn worse," Anthony muttered.

"I'd better add this to my report for… oh, Captain Anderson there you are," Chakwas said as the captain came in.

"Doctor," he acknowledged politely. "How's my XO?" he asked looking at Shepard.  
"All the readings look normal, I'd say the commander will be fine," Chakwas replied.  
"Glad to hear it," Anderson said before looking between the doctor, Shepard and the ground team. "I would like to speak to the commander, in private," he said.  
"Aye-Aye Captain," Ashley said saluting, the gesture repeated by the other marine and Army trooper.  
"We hear you, sir," Anthony replied as he made his way to the door. "Come on Kaidan, Cheeks," he said to the other two.  
Ashley gave an indignant squeak as Kaidan and Shepard tried not to laugh. "Cheeks?" she asked incredulously, her voice surprisingly high pitched.  
"You seriously didn't notice Shepard and Alenko staring at your arse?" Anthony asked, looking back with a grin as Ashley's hands shot from her sides to her butt and she looked at Kaidan and Shepard as they blushed furiously while Chakwas laughed into her hand and Anderson kept a straight face but his eyes betrayed his amusement.  
Kaidan took the opportunity to follow Mercer out and disappeared before Ashley could pull herself together. After several seconds of embarrassed floundering she marched through the door, with Chakwas behind her, shouting, "You disrespectful asshole!"  
Shepard heard a faint reply of, "You disrespectful arsehole, _SIR_," from Mercer followed by another indignant noise from Williams as the door closed.

"Well that was embarrassing," Shepard stated, looking at the floor as the blood left his face.  
"Yet entertaining," Anderson added, smiling as Shepard cringed slightly.  
"Why did he correct her like that?" Shepard asked, wondering what had happened.  
"Admiral Hackett received the _USM Cossack_ seven hours ago, the VI on board confirmed Mercer as a member of the security force on Titan Station, essentially a small battalion of Amy troopers assigned police duties. It also confirmed Mercer is _not_ from this reality, that's right he came from another reality," he explained at Shepard's disbelieving look.  
"Hackett offered him a position in the military; he is now a navy 2nd lieutenant and assigned to the ground team," Anderson explained.  
Shepard looked up to him and Anderson continued.  
"The beacon is destroyed, Nihlus is wounded and the geth are invading; things look bad and the Council will be looking for answers," Anderson informed him.  
"I didn't do anything wrong Captain, hopefully the Council will see that," Shepard replied.  
"I'll stand by you and your report but that's not the problem, it's that other turian, Saren," he said, looking Shepard in the eye. "He's a Council Spectre like Nihlus."  
"Between Nihlus, Mercer and the Cossack's external security footage we can prove he was there but not that he is involved with the geth. And if he is involved with the geth, that means he's gone rogue and a rogue Spectre is trouble," Anderson cautioned a dark look crossing the man's face. "He also hates humans."  
"He didn't come to Eden Prime because he hates humans," Shepard argued.  
"You're right, I don't know how or why but it had something to do with the beacon," Anderson agreed.  
"I had a vision, I think, before I passed out, synthetics fighting a war on organics on an unimaginable scale," Shephard told him uneasily.  
"We need to report this to the council," Anderson stated, but Shepard snorted.  
"What do we say? I had a bad dream," he asked incredulously.  
"We don't know what was on that beacon: weapons schematics, star charts, ship plans, hell even a galactic scale superweapon, but whatever it was Saren now has it. But I know Saren I know his methods, his politics, he believes humanity is a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war; he has the beacon's secrets, an army of geth and he won't stop until humanity is a footnote in turian history books," Anderson continued, his conviction growing with each word.  
"I'll find some way to take him down," Shepard declared but Anderson shook his head.  
"It's not that easy, he's a spectre and the best the council has, they won't take our accusation lightly and he's virtually untouchable as long as the council vouches for him," Anderson admitted.  
"Then we need a way to expose him, the council will have to revoke his status," Shepard suggested.  
"I'll speak with the Ambassador and see if he can get us a meeting with the council, in the meantime head up to the cockpit and tell Joker to bring us in to dock," Anderson finished before leaving the medical bay.

Shepard waited a moment, thinking over the conversation before leaving to find Ashley and Kaidan in the mess, the former fuming over Mercer's teasing and the latter talking to doctor Chakwas. Both nodded to him as he moved through the mess and to the stairs up to the command deck.

He noticed the other two following him as he reached the door to the CIC and entered the command deck. He passed Navigator Pressly and his team and continued to the cockpit where a figure with a turquoise segmented bar and half circle on their back was talking to the ship's pilot Jeff 'Joker' Moreau.

"You're just in time Commander, I'm about to bring us into the Citadel," Joker informed Shepard as he noticed the Commander stepping into the cockpit.  
"The Captain wants you to bring us in to dock," Shepard told him.  
"What does he think I'm going to do?" Joker asked heatedly.  
"Knowing you, try to slalom through the skyscrapers on Zakera ward, trick three turian cruisers to crash into each other, fly a literal circle around the flagship and finishing off by flying up the council tower and stall at the top long enough to wave to the council before pulling out of the dive at the last possible second and _then_ bringing us in to dock," Anthony suggested sarcastically.

"I can actually believe Joker would try all of that," Kaidan said, making Ashley and Shepard laugh at the look on Joker's face. Mercer grinned as he looked from Joker to the object they were approaching.  
"So that's a mass relay," he said quietly, Ashley nodded.  
"Yeah, they make travel across the whole galaxy possible," she replied.  
"Can't believe we thought one was a moon," Mercer commented as the ship closed.  
"Corrected Pluto's orbit when we turned it on," Ashley said, making Anthony look at her in surprise

"Hitting the relay in 3… 2… 1…" Joker said out loud, counting down.

Anthony watched as energy arched from the rotating centre to the ship, there was a brief flicker of electricity arcing across the hull before the view from the ship glowed blue and waves of energy formed at the nose and travelled the length of the ship before dissipating a few feet aft of the ship's rear fin.

After two minutes in this state, the ship decelerated next to another relay pointing in the opposite direction in what looked like a gas nebula.  
"The Serpent Nebula," Joker informed him, "The Citadel is in the heart of it."  
"It's a hell of a sight," Anthony admitted.  
"So is Earth the first time," Kaidan added as the _Normandy_ dived into the nebula.

The group watched through the viewports as Joker manoeuvred the frigate towards the heart of the nebula. After a few minutes they left the cloud behind and entered what seemed to be a massive interstellar clearing, at the far side of which a massive space station waited.

"God in heaven," Anthony quietly exclaimed as the frigate approached the station, earning a knowing smile from Shepard and Kaidan, "And I thought the sprawl was big, we carved that out of a moon the size of Titan."

_THAT_ comment drew incredulous looks from everyone, even Joker, before Ashley saw something that distracted everyone.

"Wow, look at the size of that thing," she said, looking at a large ship that was star shaped and had a large central hollow that glowed blue, Anthony suspected it was an annular engine.  
"The Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel fleet. It's the largest dreadnought ever built," Kaidan explained, also looking at the large warship. Anthony thought the paint scheme was too bright for a warship but conceded the Citadel hadn't partaken in any major wars for centuries.  
"Largest _known_ to have been built, I wouldn't be surprised if Prothean capital ships were bigger," Anthony corrected before adding, "I've seen bigger myself, a heavy fleet carrier and the mining ship _Ishimura_."  
"Really?" Ashley asked, looking at him in surprise. Anthony nodded.  
"The_ Ishimura_ is a planet cracker, it literally tears a small planet or large moon apart to access mineral deposits too deep for conventional mining, it was the remnant left behind from the ship's first planet crack that we built the Sprawl from, it's completed over thirty cracks in its career," Anthony explained to a shocked audience, they were quickly distracted by Joker.  
"Well, size isn't everything," Joker said, a hint of jealousy in his voice.  
"Why so touchy, Joker," Ashley teased.  
"Just saying, you need firepower too," Joker said as the frigate passed the behemoth.  
"Look at that thing, it's main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance navy," Ashley exclaimed, looking at the pilot in disbelief.  
"The _Cossack's_ prow particle cannon could do the same," Anthony told them, earning curious looks from everyone. "Still, I wouldn't want to be downrange when that thing opens fire," he admitted to general consent.  
"Good thing both are on _our_ side then," Kaidan concluded, his curiosity piqued by the admission the crashed warship was armed with ship-to-ship directed energy weapons.

The group tuned each other out slightly as Joker weaved between the bird-like turian cruisers as they waited for clearance to dock.

Anthony briefly heard the Alliance control tower signal the ship was cleared to enter dock 422 when Shepard said that Anderson wanted them in full gear before they left for the Ambassador's office.

Anthony was more or less ready as his RIG was part of the armoured security suit and only the Cossack had the equipment to remove it safely so he waited for the others with Joker, having left everything but his plasma pistol and seeker rifle in a locker in the hold.

He spent the next five minutes running a user tutorial on the omni-tool Anderson had issued him, his RIG could perform nearly every non-combat function of an omni-tool but an attempt to sync it to the ship's systems earlier had been treated as an attempt to hack the system, it had taken a long explanation of the RIG's functions and what he knew of the science behind it before the crew stopped pointing their guns at him. Anderson agreed that level of integration to the ship's systems could be useful but it would be some time before they could experiment with the process, at least so the VI wouldn't try to 'delete' him again.

He'd just finished his search for area maps, specifically the markets, when Captain Anderson arrived with the ground team.

Anderson led the four through the airlock and the dock to the lift to the C-sec academy, where he said they would be taking public transit to the Presidium.

The cab ride to the Embassy offices was uneventful, Kaidan explained to Anthony about all the different races on the citadel and how the council worked, along with humanity's current place in the galaxy.

Anderson led the way again after the cab landed and took the group to an office overlooking an indoor lake. The office door opened to reveal a man in his fifties arguing with holograms of three aliens; a turian and two others who he now knew to be an Asari and a salarian.

"This is an outrage!" he shouted at the three holograms. "The council would step in if the geth attacked a _turian_ colony."  
"The turians _don't_ found colonies on the borders of the Terminus systems, ambassador," the salarian replied coldly. Anthony fumed at that, this _Council_ would support so called 'lesser species or powers' as the asari would say, colonising high risk planets but would do jack to defend them claiming defending these new ventures was an _'internal security issue'_ but expect to reap the long term rewards despite shouldering no risk or responsibility.  
"And what about Saren?" he asked, not breaking his stride (although in this case it would have been better if he had), "The council can't ignore a rogue Spectre, I demand ACTION!" he roared.  
"_You_ don't get to make demands of the council, _Ambassador_," the turian shot back. Anthony grimaced slightly, he agreed with the councillor but he could tell the councillor had an 'I'm holier than thou', or whatever the equivalent was, attitude.  
"Citadel security is investigating your charges against Saren; the findings of the investigation will be discussed at the hearing, not before," the asari councillor said before the transmission was cut off.

The man scowled as he turned to face Anderson and his team, two of which were looking out over the presidium lakes.  
"Captain Anderson," the man greeted as his eyes turned to the waiting marines, "and I see you brought half your crew with your," he added sarcastically.  
"Just the ground team from Eden Prime," Anderson replied neutrally. "In case you had any questions," he added.  
"I have the mission reports," the ambassador snapped back, "I assume they're accurate."  
"They are," Anderson replied and gestured to the three hologram projectors. "It sounds like you got us an audience with the council."  
"They are not happy about it," the ambassador groused. "Saren's their top agent, they don't like him being accused of treason."  
"Saren's a threat to every human colony out there, if they don't stop him, I will," Shepard declared, angering the ambassador.  
"Settle down commander, you've already done enough to jeopardise your candidacy for the Spectres. The mission on Eden Prime was your chance to prove you could get the job done; instead Nihlus was wounded and the beacon destroyed," the ambassador spat angrily.  
"That was Saren's fault, not his," Anderson defended.  
"Then you'd better hope the c-sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations," the ambassador retorted. "Otherwise they'll use this as an excuse to keep you out of the spectres."  
Anthony, and though he didn't know it, Shepard, and Kaidan wondered if this man had his head on straight, colonists lives were more important than a post in the Citadel's elite spec ops.  
"Come with me Captain, there are a few things I want to go over before the hearing," he said to Anderson before turning back to Shepard. "Shepard, you and the others can meet us at the citadel tower, top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to get in."

The ambassador left with Anderson as Ashley and Kaidan turned away from the balcony, the former with a disgusted look on her face; "And _that's_ why I hate politicians," she said.  
Anthony snorted loudly, "You'd have shot my old boss in a week," he said before turning to Shepard with a dark look on his face. "How does that idiot expect C-sec to find anything on Saren when his activities are classified to nearly everyone, only another spectre would have the clearance needed, especially when the investigation began a few hours ago, the meeting will cut the investigation off early," he stated angrily.  
Shepard shot him a look that said he agreed; "Ashley, Kaidan you'll be coming with me to the tower, Mercer…"  
"I'm going to check out the markets here and on Zakera, the captain gave some money to buy a few things in order to help settle in, I also have some money from the _Cossack_ and I was going to see if it was worth anything," Anthony explained, actually he had close to two million credits he'd… 'recovered' from various places during his escape from the Sprawl.  
"Alright, if anyone asks about the _Cossack_, it's an internal security issue for the Alliance" Shepard told the other two as he started towards the door.  
"I'll call you when it's time to head back or we need you," Shepard said as they parted at the embassy entrance. Anthony watched them head towards a bridge with a symbol that reminded him of the beacon before bringing the map he'd downloaded up on his HUD and plotted his path to the financial district, specifically the nearest bank.

After memorising the directions he looked up from the holographic screen and looked around the embassy reception.

It felt strange to him to be surrounded by non-humans, but he realised he needed to get used to that.

He set off towards the financial district, wondering if anything would come from the council meeting or they'd have to scrounge evidence and prove their case later.


	3. Chapter 3

Lost Soul

Chapter 3

Mercer was just finished making his purchases from a Volus merchant called Expat when he received a call on his RIG from Shepard. He excused himself from the merchant who was packing his purchases into a small case, explaining he needed to take the call.

After stepping away from the counter and into a corner he accepted the call on his RIG, the holo-projector on his chest cast a real time projection of his new CO in front of him. He noticed both Williams and Alenko in the background with Anderson but failed to notice that an ivory skinned woman with long dark brown hair was watching him.

"Mercer, we have a problem," Shepard said over the RIG-link.  
"I was right, wasn't I?" Anthony asked grimly, he sighed as Shepard nodded.  
"The investigating detective didn't have high enough clearance to find anything worthwhile, and then the meeting prevented him from following up his only lead, Nihlus couldn't give evidence as he's still in Huerta Memorial," Shepard explained, grinning slightly as Anthony swore.  
"I should get my new gear back to the ship and join you, do I need to collect the rest of my weapons?" he asked.  
Shepard shook his head, "no, however it wouldn't hurt to have the C-99 on hand," Shepard said before adding, "We're looking for a turian C-sec officer called Garrus Vakarian."  
"Right, if I see him I'll call you so we can meet up," he said ending the call. He collected his purchases and headed back through the ward to the dock where _Normandy_ was berthed, passing a quarian heading the opposite way and stepping aside to allow a red crested krogan to pass.

He'd just stepped into the lift to the dock when Shepard sent him a message telling him to meet them at a club called Chora's Den. As the lift continued to ascend he pulled up an area map to look for the club, it was at the far end of the ward, not far from the market he just left really.

Closing the map as the lift reached the dock, he stepped out of the lift when the door opened and crossed the bridge to the ship. He resisted the urge to bang his head on the wall during the decon cycle and waited for the door to open.

He stepped through the door, greeting Joker as he passed, and headed to the stairs at the far end of the CIC. He nodded to Pressly as he passed and continued past the marine guarding the door to the crew deck. He turned right into a narrow corridor on the crew deck where there were two observation rooms, one on each side of the ship, and the quarters for the XO and Chief Medical Officer. He entered Starboard Observation, his new quarters and left his purchases on the bed made up for him.

He turned and left the room, locking the door as he left, and entered the lift after exiting the corridor. He went down to the hangar, retrieved his Contact Beam with some ammunition and returned to the crew deck. He left the lift and made his back to the airlock, as he reached the airlock door Joker told him that Shepard had found Garrus and they were heading for Chora's Den.

He told Joker to tell Shepard that he was on his way and left the ship.

When Mercer arrived in the main foyer of the C-sec academy, he spotted the red-crested krogan from earlier being detained by some officers, something about threatening a business owner called Fist.

He turned away and continued to the lift to the wards. On the way down, an announcement was played over the loudspeakers that an archaeological team in the Artemis Tau cluster had gone dark.  
"I wonder if we'll be roped in to investigate," Anthony thought as the lift slowed as it reached the wards level.

About halfway across the Ward, the marker on Mercer's HUD indicated for him to enter an alley as it was the fastest route to the club, he noted as he entered that the lighting seemed particularly poor except for an area around an alcove halfway down the alley… and a quarian was hovering on the edge of pool of light.

Just as he reached a set of stairs leading down to the level of the alcove, a turian stepped out of the alcove as two salarians hovered suspiciously near some crates, prompting Mercer to draw his plasma pistol and crouch down behind a set of crates just outside the lit area.

"Did you bring it?" a flanged voice asked, Mercer slid to the edge of the crates.

"Where's the Shadow Broker?" a synthesised female voice with an accent similar to a Russians asks, "Where's Fist?" she asks again, this time sounding nervous.

Mercer looked around the corner of the crates and had to suppress a snarl as the turian ran his hand over the quarian's arm, "Don't worry they'll be here."

"No way, the deals off," the quarian replied, slapping away the turian's hand.

The turian glared at the quarian as they both stepped back slowly, the turian nodded to the salarians.

The salarians drew pistols and moved towards the quarian, who glanced between the turian and salarians in panic before quickly throwing a disk shaped explosive at the salarian's feet.

The small explosion knocked the salarians back, but the turian growled, drawing his own pistol, he fired before the quarian could get to cover.

The girl screamed as the bullet went through her ankle and fell, she rolled over and tried to draw a pistol but it was kicked out of her hand.

The turian raised his weapon to fire but a shout distracted him.

Mercer watched the deal go sour fast, he was about to fire when the salarians were blasted off their feet, he looked back to see the quarian running and the turian drawing his pistol, but the salarians were getting up.

"Here!" Mercer shouted drawing the salarian's attention and distracting the turian.

He fired a stasis orb at the salarians and then the turian, he raised his pistol and fired three times at each salarian and then four at the turian.

The salarians sluggishly tried to fire on Mercer but were cut down by the bolts of super-heated plasma, the turian panicked when he saw his comrade's shields fail to activate but wasn't able to overcome the strange energy and was hit and killed before he could raise his weapon.

Mercer ejected the spent plasma cell and loaded a fresh one as he checked the bodies, picking up the used cell as replacements were virtually non-existent and the _could_ be recharged.

Silence reigned for several seconds before Mercer moved toward the quarian, who was shaking her head slightly and glancing between the three bodies.

"Are you alright? Where did he hit you?"

Tali panicked slightly when the turian caressed her arm, "No way, the deal is off," she said, slapping away the turian's hand.

Fear churned violently in her stomach at the glare the turian gave her, which exploded when he nodded at two salarians, who started drawing their pistols.

She glanced back at the turian and then back to the salarians, quickly throwing a small disk grenade before running for cover at her end of the alley, a shot ended her flight.

The bullet slammed through her ankle, send her to the ground, Tali managed to see the salarians getting up as she rolled over but her pistol was knocked of her hand by the turian. For a brief moment, she stared into the turian's eyes through the sights of his pistol and all she could think was _'this is it; I'm going to die… Ancestors save me'_.

The shout that came from the other end of the alley and the two balls of energy seemed to be in answer to her short prayer.

She looked through the turian's legs just as one of the energy balls hit him; the turian seemed to turn slowly around, every movement slowed by the energy like the slow-motion effects in a human Sci-Fi film, the salarians seemed to have the same problem themselves, both hadn't even raised their pistols half way when bolts of yellowish-white light struck first one, and then the other, ignoring the pairs, admittedly pitiful, kinetic barriers.

Tali gagged involuntarily as the smell of scorched flesh and ceramics passed through her olfactory filters, nearly missing the turian above being struck down by the same weapon. She stared for several seconds as a figure stepped into the light holding a strange sidearm.

The figure was wearing a green and white bodysuit that had what looked like armoured ribbing over the arms and legs with an integrated armoured cuirass and pauldrons of a deep blue colour, a segmented helmet with two glowing horizontal slits and angular, armoured boots and greaves.

The figure checked the bodies as they switched what looked like a power cell from the pistol, before looking over to her, "Are you alright? Where did he hit you?"

Mercer walked over to the fallen alien who noticeably blinked before replying, "I was shot in my leg, I… Thank you, but I don't…"

"Don't panic," Mercer said gently as the girl's breathing sped up as she cradled her wounded ankle and examined the damage, "If you have any medi-gel, slap it on and I'll carry you to the free clinic near C-Sec."

"You really don't need…" Tali tried to protest as she applied the tiny pack of medi-gel she carried.

"You won't make it on your own," Mercer stated, picking the girl up bridal style after making sure the gel was holding.

The walk to the clinic was strange, nearly everyone stared at the odd sight of a human carrying a quarian, but the small trail of blood and the fact they were heading in the direction of the Ward's free clinic kept them from asking questions, in fact the trip wasn't too long.

He let Tali stand when they reached the clinic doors; he waited until she was ready before opening the doors and stepping through.

"I didn't say anything, I swear!" exclaimed a French accented woman.

Mercer counted four men with pistols, assault rifles and shield harness' like the one the turian had surrounding a red haired woman.

"That's good doctor," one of the thugs, the one in the doctor's face, said, "now, when Garrus gets here…" he noticed Mercer and Tali in the doorway, "Who are you?" he bellowed, drawing his pistol and taking the doctor hostage.

Mercer materialised the C-99 and slammed the muzzle into the deck plating and fired, severing an I beam and bending it from the force, the sheared beam's opposite end being driven up through the deck plates beneath the thug and doctor's feet sending them both tumbling, the other thugs were also knocked of balance and stumbled before the stasis effect generated by the ground blast struck them.

Mercer charged and fired the Contact Beam at the three thugs away from the doctor, killing all three before the stasis effect wore off; he then stepped around the counter between the door and the doctor and fired his last round into the last thug, now having a clear shot.

Silence reined for several seconds, broken only by the hiss of steam off the cooling fins of the Contact Beam as Mercer inserted a new power cell.

"Are you alright?" he asked the doctor, who was still shaking.

"Yes, thank you," she said, taking the offered hand and got up.

"Who were those guys?" Mercer asked, before shaking his head, "scratch that, Tali was shot and needs treatment."

Both the doctor and Tali were surprised, but the doctor quickly looked the gently swaying quarian over and began examining her.

Mercer waited at the front of the clinic after dragging the dead thugs out of the doctor's way, leaving her to her craft; in fact he hadn't returned the Contact Beam to his equipment buffer instead leaving it out on the counter.

After about forty minutes, a loud thump came from the other side of the clinic's door.

Mercer snatched up the Contact Beam and aimed at the door, ready for any intruder as the lock cycled.

"WOAH! Mercer! Hold your fire!"

"Kaidan?"

"Jesus! What made you so jumpy?" the Alliance sentinel asked, relief flooding his face as Mercer returned the C-99 to his Equipment Buffer.

"A gunfight in an alley on the way to Chora's Den and an ambush here," Mercer replied, he looked around Kaidan to see a confused turian with blue facial markings and the other end of the severed I beam poking slightly through the deck plating, "Someone fall?"

"Ashley," Shepard answered as he walked through the door, followed by a very red Chief Williams.

"Stupid deck plating… keepers should have fixed it," she mumbled.

"Have a nice trip, cheeks?" Mercer asked innocently.

Ashley went bright red in humiliation and anger as Kaidan and Shepard fought to keep a straight face.

"Pardon?" the turian asked.

"Nothing, just a little friendly teasing between shipmates," Mercer replied, "I take it you came here for a reason?"

"We're looking for Doctor Michel," the turian said, "Garrus Vakarian," he added holding out his hand.

"Anthony Mercer, Doctor's out back with a patient," Anthony replied, taking Garrus' hand and lowering his visor.

"So what did I miss?"

"We stormed through Chora's Den looking for Fist…" Kaidan started.

"Fist? Isn't he a former agent for the Shadow Broker?"

"How did you know?" Ashley asked.

"I was talking to a volus named Barla Von after getting my credits exchanged; he told me Fist was in Dutch with his former boss."

"Anyway, we fought through the club and found Fist, Shepard convinced him to tell us where Garrus' lead went, he told us he'd arranged a meeting for her in an alley on the Wards, except it would be Saren's men meeting her…"

"Let me guess, you arrive to find the party's over? Leaving behind a dead turian and two salarians with gunshot wounds inconsistent with any known weapon?"

Shepard and Ashley exchange a look as Garrus' mandibles flare slightly as Kaidan's jaw dropped, "How'd you know?"

"That was the fight I got into on the Wards forty minutes ago, my HUD said to use the Alley and I walked into the meeting, saw things go south and fired, if I hadn't it seems you would have lost your lead," Mercer replied.

"Yeah, so after that we ask about any quarians in the market, which is where we heard a human had carried a quarian to the free clinic earlier, so we headed here," Kaidan finished.

Anthony was about to say something but Doctor Michel came out from the clean room, Tali behind her, "Garrus? I take it you are here to see my patient?"

The C-sec detective was slightly surprised, "How did you know?"

"There were four idiots threatening her not to talk to you when I came in," Mercer answered.

"I must admit it was quite an entrance," the doctor added.

Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan now noticed the hole in the floor, the ruptured deck plates on the other side of the counter and the dead thugs, Ashley glared at Anthony before muttering under her breath.

"Mr Mercer brought Ms Zorah in just after Fist's thugs got here, thankfully he dispatched them swiftly, before alerting to Ms Zorah's injury," Doctor Michel continued.

"Is it alright for us to speak with her?"

"I'm standing right here!"

Mercer grinned at the girl's exclamation.

"She is fine, her injury was treated in time; just don't go running into any more fights for at least three days,"

"Yes doctor, and… thank you," Tali said.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the _SSV Normandy_ and this is Detective Vakarian from C-sec, we were told that you may have evidence against Spectre Saren Arterius," Shepard said, introducing himself and Garrus.

"My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, and yes, I was trying to trade information on Saren for protection," Tali replied.

"I think we should take this to the Embassy, Commander, It'll be safer," Mercer interrupted.

"I think you're right," Shepard replied, "Will you come with us?"

Tali nodded and followed the group out after saying goodbye to Doctor Michel, Mercer and Kaidan had to bite their lips to keep from laughing when Ashley tripped again on the dislodged I beam outside the clinic.

The trip to the Embassy was filled with small talk, mostly Mercer asking the two aliens questions about their species, something that surprised both but they answered every question, the conversation helping everyone to relax.

The meeting with the Ambassador, however, was anything but calm.

"You are NOT making my life easy, Shepard," Udina says angrily as we step in, "Gunfights in the Wards, an all-out assault on Chora's Den… what's this? A quarian? What are you up to Shepard?"

"Her name is Tali," Mercer retorts, his voice barely above a growl, "And if you'd can it and let us explain you'd know she can help us nail that metal skinned bastard to the wall."

Tali and Garrus stared at the strangely armoured human, Tali in surprise and a little respect and gratitude and Garrus frowning at the comment.

"Mercer's right, Tali found evidence to connect Saren to the Eden Prime attack," Shepard added.

Udina's entire demeanour changed, "Well then, perhaps it's best to start from the beginning, miss…"

Tali stepped forward and lit up her Omni-tool, "My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, I was on my pilgrimage when I heard that the Geth had come beyond the Veil."

"Pilgrimage?" Kaidan asked.

"Rite of Passage, the adolescent leaves the Flotilla and only returns when they collect a gift to present to the Captain of the ship they wish to join, usually resources or systems upgrades but most quarians aim to return with a ship," Mercer explained, having asked Tali the exact same question earlier.

"Correct," Tali continued, "I managed to isolate a single Geth on an uncharted planet and I managed to extract some files from its data core."

Both Mercer and Anderson frowned, "Don't the Geth rig the data cores on the platforms to flash after the platform stops functioning?" Mercer asked before the Captain could.

"They do, it's a defence mechanism, but my people created the Geth, if you're quick and careful you can save some files, one of my old friends was able to save 40% of the files during a simulation on an old memory core.

She fiddled with her Omni-tool for a moment, _"The attack on Eden Prime was a success, we are one step closer to finding the Conduit,"_ a malevolent male voice said.

"_And one step closer to the return of the Reapers,"_ a second soft, female voice replied.

"That's Saren's voice!" Anderson exclaims.

"I don't recognise the second voice, or the reference to the Reapers," Udina says thoughtfully.

"I read an Extranet discussion this morning on the Prothean extinction, one of the theories was that an external force destroyed the Empire over several decades, if not centuries, one of the speakers flippantly described this force as an 'Army of Grim Reapers'," Mercer said thoughtfully.

"Exactly," Tali said, "The Geth believe the Reapers to be a Hyper-Advanced machine race that destroyed the Protheans; they revere them as the pinnacle of synthetic life."

"Okay now I've seen everything, religious fanatic AI," Mercer said in disbelief.

"We need to report this to the Council," Anderson says.

"I don't know about those Reapers but this proves Saren was involved with Eden Prime," Udina says.

"Anderson come with me, Shepard we'll meet you in the Tower," Udina says, walking past the ground team and out of the office.

"No need to thank us… you ungrateful…" Ashley starts to mutter angrily.

"Preaching to the choir, cheeks," Mercer looked to Shepard, ignoring Ashley's indignant squeak, "Shall we head up or hang around for a while?"

"We should go up," Shepard decides and leads the way out.

The journey to the Presidium Tower was swift, broken only by a comment on Shepard's driving after the auto-pilot on the sky car he; Kaidan and Mercer were in failed.

"Shepard! It's a car, not a tank!" Kaidan yelled as Shepard brought the sky car down heavily on a Presidium landing pad.

"I'm never stepping foot in the Mako if he's driving," Mercer declared, looking a little green.

Shepard just smiled at them and opened the door, Mercer and Kaidan exchanged a worried look as he got out.

Captain Anderson met them at the bottom of the steps, "Come on, the Ambassador's presenting Ms Zorah's evidence."

The group arrived just as the recording ended.

"You wanted proof?" Udina said, "There it is."

The Councillors look very uncomfortable. The turian Councillor, Sparatus, speaks first, "this evidence is irrefutable, Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and resources immediately and all efforts made to bring him in."

"I recognise the second voice," Tevos the asari Councillor adds, "its Matriarch Benezia."

"Another traitor," Shepard says loudly as Mercer mutters, "that's not good."

"Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic and had many followers, she'll be a powerful ally for Saren," Tevos warns.

"I'm more interested in the Reapers, what do you know about them?" Valern, the Salarian Councillor says.

"Only what the Geth memory core says," Anderson answers, "They were an advanced machine race that wiped out the Protheans, then they vanished."

"The Geth believe the Reapers are Gods, and Saren the Prophet for their return," Shepard continued.

"We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back and Saren is searching for it, that's why Saren attacked Eden Prime," Anderson says.

"Do we know what the Conduit is?" Valern asks.

"Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that's bad enough," Shepard replies.

"Listen to what you're saying," Sparatus retorts, "Saren wants to bring back the machines that destroyed all life in the Galaxy? Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? Why have we never encountered evidence of their existence?"

"He's got a point," Mercer says to Shepard and Anderson, "It would take centuries for the Reapers to police their brass after a war on a galactic scale, assuming they're actually bothered to do so."

"I tried to warn you about Saren but you refused to face the truth," Shepard shouts, "Don't make the same mistake."

"This is different," Tevos interrupts, "You've proven Saren has betrayed the Council and is searching for the Conduit, but we don't know the reason why.

"The Reapers are obviously just a myth Commander, a convenient lie to cover Saren's true purpose. A legend to bend the Geth to his will," Valern adds dismissively.

"50,000 years ago the Reapers wiped out all Galactic civilisation. If Saren finds the Conduit, it _WILL_ happen again," Shepards retorts.

"Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life, he no longer has the resources or privileges of being a Spectre. The Council has stripped him of his position," Sparatus replies.

"That's not good enough, you know he's in the Traverse, send in your fleet," Udina challenges.

"Bad idea," Mercer says, causing everyone to look at him, "Space is a big place, he could be anywhere in the Traverse, a Council Fleet hanging around for any period of time could cause a pre-emptive strike from either the Hegemony or make the Pirate holdings work together to confront it. You need to use a fast, stealthy ship to find Saren, _THEN_ send the Fleet to finish him."

"The Lieutenant is right," Valern agrees, "Saren must be found before we send a Fleet in, assuming his forces aren't taken care of first."

"Every time we ask for help, you ignore us!" Shepard says.

"Shepard's right, I'm sick of this Council and it's Anti-human Bull – " Udina shouts.

"Ambassador!" Tevos interrupts, trying to placate Udina, "There is another solution that doesn't require Fleets or Armies."

"NO! It's too soon!" Sparatus declares, "Humanity isn't ready to join the Spectres."

"I take down Saren without you sending a Fleet in and Udina gets his human Spectre, everybody's happy," Shepard replies.

"Shepard's right, there is a way to achieve both goals," Tevos says.

Valern nods when she looks at him but Sparatus doesn't meet her eyes nodding reluctantly after a minute.

"Commander Shepard, step forward."

Shepard looked to Anderson who nodded and stepped to the front of the bridge, standing in front of Udina, drawing all eyes onto him.

"It is the decision of the Council that you be granted all the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel," Tevos begins.

"Spectres aren't trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, whose actions elevate the above the rank and file," Valern picks up.

"Spectres are an ideal, a symbol. The embodiment of Courage, Determination and Self-Reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, they are the instruments of our will" Tevos continues.

"Spectres bear a great burden. They are the protectors of Galactic Peace, they are our first and last line of defence. The safety of the Galaxy is theirs to uphold," Sparatus said.

"You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species," Tevos continues.

"This is a great honour Councillors, I won't let you down," Shepard replies.

"We are sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice so you are authorised to use any means to apprehend or eliminate him," Valern adds.

"Are there any leads?" Shepard asks.

"We will forward all relevant files to Udina," Sparatus replies.

"This meeting of the Council is adjourned," Tevos concludes.

The group converged as the Councillors left and the crowd dispersed.

"We have a lot of work to do; you need a ship, crew supplies…" Udina muttered, "Anderson, come with me, I'll need your help to set this up. Shepard, meet us at the dock." He then walked away with Anderson behind him.

"Ass," Arse," Ashley and Mercer muttered together and turned back to Shepard.

"Congratulations!" Kaidan and Ashley chorus.

"Well done Commander," Mercer said.

"You're a Spectre now, Shepard, no red tape holding you back," Garrus commented.

"I can't believe the ambassador didn't congratulate you," Tali commented, staring at the spot where Udina had left.

"He's a politician," Mercer shrugged.

"So what happens now? What happens to these two?" Kaidan asked.

"They'd be safest coming with us," Mercer said, "Both are targets for retribution; Tali for acquiring and presenting the evidence and Garrus for his determined investigation."

Ashley looked miffed at allowing two aliens to join the crew but it was obvious she agreed, Kaidan brought up another point, "It would also be useful to have people with different skill sets on the ground team."

"Tali's got to be good at hacking if she pulled that data from a geth memory core and I heard a turian C-sec regular complaining about a Detective Vakarian out shooting him on the range last week," Mercer commented.

Ashley looked like she wanted to argue but stayed silent as Shepard said they could join the team.

Shepard told the two to finish up any business on the station and meet them at C-sec, taking the team to collect a few things from the markets before heading back to the Academy, when they arrived a scarred krogan approached.

"You go left," Mercer murmured to Kaidan, who nodded and drew his pistol discreetly. Kaidan circled around opposite Mercer who had selected the C-99.

"You! Human, you're the one called Shepard?" the Krogan said, getting right into Shepard's face, causing Ashley and the approaching Tali and Garrus to tense up.

"I am," Shepard replied neutrally, holding the ancient and bad tempered krogan's gaze.

The krogan stared at him, then gave a slightly approving grunt, "I'm Urdnot Wrex, I was hired to kill Fist by the Shadow Broker…

But I didn't, _YOU_ got to him first."

"I did," Shepard replied, watching the krogan and not letting the half ton lizard intimidate him (something they'd learn two years later had earned him a lot of respect from ALL the C-sec regulars).

"When I take a job, _I_ finish it!" Wrex growled, stepping right into Shepard's face, their noses inches apart, making Ashley reach for her pistol.

The krogan glanced slightly to his left at Ashley, but Mercer knew that he and Kaidan had been noticed and was certain the krogan was eyeing up his Contact Beam.

"I didn't finish this job, you did, I've already transferred to your account," that made everyone stare in disbelief.

"A mercenary with integrity," Mercer muttered mildly impressed, earning a feral looking but friendly, for a krogan, grin.

"You didn't need to do that," Shepard commented after checking his account balance (up by 4,000 credits), "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"I want to come with you," everyone stared at him, "There's a storm coming Shepard, you and Saren will be at the centre of it.

I wanna be there when you face him."

"You want to come along… because you want to sit in the middle of a shit storm?" Ashley asked sceptically.

"Krogan _are_ bulletproof compared to other organics, and he isn't a typical krogan merc," Mercer mused.

Shepard stared at Wrex, thinking it over for several moments, "Alright, you're on the team Wrex."

Wrex shook Shepard's hand, grinning, "You won't regret tis Shepard."

Kaidan and Mercer replaced their weapons as the team squeezed into the lift from the Academy Lobby to the docks.

To find a surprise waiting for them, in the form of an armed transport familiar to Mercer and a red head in Alliance Issue armour, watching as Anderson and Udina talked, all three looking up as the motley crew approached.

"Shepard," Udina greeted, "Anderson and I were just going over the interim arrangements for your mission."

"The _Normandy_ is to undergo a quick refit," Anderson explained, "The technology from the _Cossack_ has been examined to the point where we can actually fit it to our ships, the _Normandy's_ mass accelerator and Barriers are to be replaced with reverse-engineered systems from the _Cossack_, among other things." He then gestured to the ocean grey armed vessel in the adjacent berth, "until the refit is complete in a month's time, you'll have to use a…"

"_Kestrel_-class gunship, armed with twin chin Particle Cannon, dorsal Torpedo Launchers and Laser based CIWS with port and starboard auto-cannon for ground support missions and electronic warfare suite," he turned to look at Anderson, "Are we taking a _Sabre_ or a _Mako_?"

"A _Mako_ unfortunately, the _Sabres_ are still being examined, and it _does_ possess a fully functioning Shockpoint Drive so I need you to teach Joker how to fly it," Anderson continued as if nothing had happened, although everyone else was staring at the Gendarme trooper.

"What? These things were used for heavy support and customs duties; it's actually a job requirement for squad leaders to know how to fly one on the Sprawl," Mercer defended.

"They were going to send you its _Kellion_-class half-sister, but Udina made the case for the gunship, you'll need it for your first mission," Anderson finished.

"Normally we'd give you our leads and cut you loose, Shepard," Udina picked up, "But due to the _Normandy's_ refit you're being sent after only one lead, Matriarch Benezia's daughter, Liara T'Soni. She's an archaeologist and specialises in the Prothean extinction, her last known location was the planet Therum."

"The dig team went silent two days ago, we don't know why but Geth activity in the cluster was reported yesterday, so she is your priority, if she's complicit then eliminate her, if not, get her out of there," Anderson added.

"Finally, you'll be taking another member on your team," the red head stood up straighter, "Lieutenant Shepard is assigned to the ground team," Anderson finished.

"Shepard?" Mercer and Kaidan asked, the two shared a look as Joker walked onto the _Kestrel's_ boarding ramp with a rating carrying his duffel bag.

"I don't believe it," Kaidan muttered, noticing the family resemblance.

"God knows, one Shepard is bad enough," Mercer agreed.

"But now…"

"…We've got it in stereo."

"I hope she's a better driver, if not I'm never getting in that tank,"

"Hey!" Shepard shouted at the slur on his driving as everyone laughed, even Udina smiled.

"Well, I'll take my leave, good luck Shepard," Udina finished and left.

"Mercer, you should get settled in and start Joker's driving lessons (Hey!), the rest of you should get settled too, do you have any questions, Shepard?"

Mercer walked up the loading ramp into the starboard mess area, two tables in recessed alcoves that sat four people which converted into bunks in an emergency, and on into the main cabin which ran the length of the flight deck and half the length of the ship, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau was already in the co-pilot's seat.

"I still don't see why you have to be the pilot, I mean, I _am_ the best pilot in the Alliance," he grumbled.

"You don't have a RIG and this ship requires one on startup," Mercer retorted, "Besides, these things are called flying guntrucks for a reason, the weights well balanced overall but there's a lot of it."

He went to the rear of the flight deck to claim a bunk as Joker pouted childishly, the rest of the team, minus the two Shepard's, boarding behind him.

He took the top bunk under an overhead beam and swung onto the bunk using the beam.

"Comfy?" Kaidan asked as he took the bunk underneath.

"It ain't exactly the Ritz, but it'll do," Mercer replied, climbing out and finding his other weapons in a nearby locker.

"Everyone," Shepard called out, "this is my baby sister, Valerie," wincing as the girl in question hit him.

"Hey, nice to meet you all," the girl said, her emerald green eyes flashing in annoyance at her brother.

"Woof."

Kaidan burst out laughing, as did an eavesdropping Joker, as everyone else stared at Mercer, who was staring at the pretty, curvy and now blushing red head with a slightly love struck look and glazed eyes.

"Snap out of it," Kaidan wheezed out, punching Mercer's leg, bringing him back to Earth.

"Oh, and I guess I didn't catch _you_ staring at certain shapely parts on a certain hazel eyed ground pounder earlier?" both Kaidan and Ashley went bright red at Mercer's retort.

"If I didn't know that they only met two days ago, I'd think they were brothers," Shepard muttered to his sister.

"Alright, fun's over, I need to start Joker's driving lessons," Mercer said, ignoring the indignant shout from the cockpit as he walked up, syncing his RIG to everyone's curiosity as he passed.

Joker eyed the holographic interface as Mercer ran the sync program and started up the main control panel.

Seconds later large holographic panels lit up in front of the pair, Mercer kicked off with the pre-flight checklist after checking that Joker's implants to use native holographic controls worked on the screens.

Once the checks were complete, the engines were idling and the Alliance Control Tower had given clearance to take off, Mercer turned on the deck comm, "Welcome aboard flight Kestrel-001, our destination is the planet Therum in the Artemis Tau star cluster, please fasten your seatbelts and do not unfasten them until the signal is given, refreshments will be available from the galley in the centre portside of the Flight deck after take-off, your crew and Captain wish you a pleasant trip and thank you for flying with the Cactus Air Force," he cut the comm and looked to meet Joker's massive grin as the docking clamps disengaged.

"Beautiful, couldn't have said it better myself," the grinning pilot said.

The armed transport slide backwards from the berth at a slow steady speed, its travel was checked 100m from the berth as the main engines ignited and the manoeuvring thrusters spun the nose around. The small ship then accelerated away from the dock and the station towards the Nebula's Mass Relay, beyond which lay the first mission for its crew.


End file.
